Title:
The Path Which Has Led to the Present (28/35?)
Author:
Aerial312
Rating: PG-13.
Category: Humor/Fluff/Angst/Romance
(a little of everything)
Spoiler Info: Pre-Series.
Disclaimer:
I own nothing…I just borrow.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated.
Sure. Just let me know where its
going.
A/N: hehe…you know you've watched too much West Wing when, vacationing in DC you remark "There's got to be an easy way to get to Georgetown on foot, Josh walks home all the time."
"Where's the thing?"
"What thing?"
"The thing I had in my hand a minute—"
"What kind of thing?"
"It was a file. The file from the meeting that that assh—"
"Here. You handed it to me to cull data from."
"I swear I had it in my hand a second ago."
"You did. Until which time you put it in my hand and said that I should do index cards."
"I need it."
"The index cards aren't done yet."
"I need it now."
"The whole thing, or a specific memo?"
"The one the guy was being a prick about—"
"Josh!"
"He was."
"He was just expressing his concern."
"Yeah, his concern isn't going to make a huge amount of difference 4 days before the election—one day before the debate he wants his data to have some impact on—"
"Are we changing an answer?"
"I hope not…"
"But?"
"But after our meeting, that asshole was displeased with my attitude apparently—"
"Your attitude? You were very well behaved."
"But indifferent to his agenda."
"Is Leo pissed?"
"Not with me. But Leo's pissed, because he agreed to meet with the asshole late in the process, and I took the meeting, so he still got meet with a senior Bartlet for America representative, and the guy goes around us after the meeting, and calls the Governor directly."
"And?"
"And of course, the guy's got a plight of the type the Governor loves to hear—you heard it—and now the Governor wants us to re-examine the Social Security answer, with less than 24 hours until the last debate."
"Is that what that little pow-wow was about?"
"Yeah. Governor wants us to look over the new data, if you can call it that, and meet with him in an hour, for the last hour of the flight."
"I can sort it by priority fast, if you want."
"That would be great. Hard data, you take, do note cards, make copies for all of the senior staff. Get it to Mrs. Landingham, for the Governor, and to Toby ASAP. I'm going to try to read this dense piece of garbage."
"This shouldn't take long, let me know if you want me to take anything else."
Josh settled back in his chair, and Donna pulled down her tray table, setting out her notecards, pens and sharpies. They worked in silence for a while.
"Do you want to look this over before I reproduce it?"
Josh nodded, and Donna handed the small stack of cards over.
"I tried to make it as concise as possible, because of time—"
"And no one really wants to do this."
"Right."
Josh sighed. "All this projections of when they think Social Security is going to run out…they're nothing new. Our plan addresses this, without the fear-mongering."
"More data, less scenario?"
"Yeah…cut the 'if this, then this' 'if this, then this' card. Just hard data—"
"Well, that is—"
"Just less. The number of people we have on Social Security now, the number of people we had on Social Security when it started, the number in 'x' number of years—I don't know what number it uses for a reference—"
"Ten, then 20, then 50."
"Stick to 10 or 20."
"Yeah?"
"The Governor's a smart man. He's a Nobel laureate in economics for God's sake. He knows what these facts mean. He knew what they meant in February, and he knows what they mean now, and they haven't changed. This is a waste of time!"
Josh threw the index cards at the ground, and put his head down on his hands. Donna reached out and rubbed his neck. "You guys'll show him what he wants to see, he might add a little something—"
"There's no room in that answer to add anything. Not without taking something out. Toby's having a conniption."
"Can I pass on the cards, sans the one you nixed?"
Josh nodded dejectedly. "And I'll just continue to read this boring little document."
Donna ruffled his hair as she got up, squatting to pick up the thrown cards.
"Sorry about that."
"You weren't mad at me or my cards," Donna smiled. "Just frustrated at the world in general. You didn't ruin them."
"You just gonna photocopy them?"
"Yeah…I'll put them all on one page."
"Make me one too."
"Will do."
Donna photocopied the cards, and set off in search of Toby.
"I have some data cards for you."
Toby glared at her.
"These are the salient facts from the reading that Mr. Ulrich gave us."
"How badly did Josh screw up this meeting?"
"What?"
"I asked how badly did he shoot his mouth off and piss this guy off?"
"He was actually quite well behaved."
"If he was well behaved, the guy wouldn't be calling the Governor directly."
"Josh presented exactly the line Leo asked him to."
"So you're saying this is Leo's fault?"
"I'm saying that I don't think that Mr. Ulrich would have liked anything any representative from the campaign would have said."
"But we could have made him see that we weren't going to take his bullshit!"
"And if Leo hadn't said that this was an important meeting, people we couldn't piss off too badly, I'm sure Josh would have. Leo's thing was try to appease him, but don't promise him anything."
"So the jackass went right to the Governor."
"Right."
"And now we all have to deal with this."
"Right."
"Fuck."
Donna nodded, and headed out the door. At the entrance to Governor Bartlet's private office, Mrs. Landingham sat a plush chair with her feet up. Donna smiled.
"How are you today, Mrs. Landingham?"
"I'm tired honey. What can I do for you?"
"I have this data for the Governor."
"Go on in."
"Oh…I…"
"It's okay honey, he's in a better mood. Save me the trip."
"Yes, ma'am."
Donna knocked firmly on the door.
"Come in."
"Hello, sir, I have a summary of the data from the file that Mr. Ulrich gave us, for you from Josh."
"Thank you, Donna. Close the door for a second."
Donna closed the door, and turned back to the Governor.
"You sat in on this meeting earlier, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Now, I know Leo was supposed to take this meeting originally, how prepared was Josh for this meeting?"
"Leo told Josh around 2 last night—"
"2am?"
"Yes, sir. And in the morning we retrieved Leo's files from Margaret, and read through them on the bus ride to Phoenix."
"So factual preparation was good."
"Yes, sir."
"What other guidance had Leo given?"
"He emphasized that this was an important meeting—"
"Yes, it was."
"—but that we didn't have time for Mr. Ulrich's agenda at this stage in the campaign, sir. So Josh was to go into the meeting and listen to his agenda, but not promise anything."
"And this is what he did?"
"Yes, sir."
"And—I don't mean to sound rude—but how did Josh go about this?"
"Sir, are you asking how cocky he was?"
Bartlet smiled. "Yes. Yes, I suppose I am."
"Josh was very well behaved, sir. Very polite, listened, but as instructed, he told Mr. Ulrich that we would fully hear his position when we took the White House, but 4 days before the election was no time to be adjusting our position on an issue."
"I see. Then that asshole was playing me."
Donna was surprised to hear the obscenity. "Um, it appears that way, sir."
"Thank you for clearing all that up for me, Donna. Leave the paper. I'll look it over. Ulrich may be playing the game under the table, but I bet his data has some point that I've overlooked."
"Yes, sir."
"Ask Toby and Sam to come to see me in 15 minutes, and we might be able to adjust a sentence or two in my social security rebuttal. Tell CJ and Josh I don't need to see them on the flight, will you?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'd like to be able to let Mrs. Landingham rest."
"Of course, sir."
"Donna, do you enjoy working for Josh?"
"I do, sir."
"He's good to you? Doesn't work you too hard?"
"Well, sir, we work hard, but he's good to me. I enjoy it."
"Good. He needs someone like you to organize him. Did he tell you that he'll be Leo's deputy if we win?"
"Yes, sir."
"I do hope he keeps you on."
"We haven't talked about it, specifically. We had some general conversations to the effect of 'when we take the White House…', but nothing specific."
"Well, I hope he does soon."
"Thank you, sir."
"Have a nice night, Donna."
Donna returned to Josh half an hour after she originally set out.
"What the hell took you so long?"
"Interesting story," Donna smiled, sitting beside him.
"I gave the photocopy to Toby, who glared at it—"
"And?"
"Then I went to drop it off to Mrs. Landingham, but she sent me directly in to see the Governor."
"Really?"
"So I had to hand the notecards directly to him—"
"And he grilled you about the meeting."
"Yeah."
"And?"
"I told him how it all went; our, well, your mission from Leo—"
"My attitude…"
"Yes, that too."
"And what did you tell him?"
"I told them that you were very professional. You were on your best behavior."
"Who's them?"
"Toby had the same question—"
"Why do they think that I can't control my temper ever? Yes, I get a little high strung, but I can be professional if I try really hard."
Donna smiled. "I don't know."
Josh sighed.
"It's fine now, though. Everyone's on the same page, and the Governor is pissed that Ulrich played him. He's looking over the data I had, and may make a small tweak or two, but no major shifts."
"Thank god."
"He's meeting with Toby and Sam in a few minutes, but everyone else is off the hook."
"Good work."
"It wasn't me."
"You got everyone to realize that it wasn't my fault—"
"I told everyone the truth—"
"Same end."
"The Governor thanked me too."
"Yeah?"
"He grilled me about whether you're a good boss."
"Am I?"
"Usually."
"Uh huh," Josh smacked her playfully. "Really, though, you still like working for me, right?"
"Of course I do."
"Good. You wanna keep working for me when we take the White House, right?"
Donna nodded.
"Good. I need you. You just…understand…the way I work like no one else…and I appreciate it."
Donna smiled, and felt herself blushing. "Thank you."
